Chris Lane Wins 2012 Classic Title | The Ultimate Bass Fishing Resource Guide® LLC

SHREVEPORT, LA. – Chris Lane of Guntersville, Ala., battled rising temperatures at the 42nd annual Bassmaster Classic bass fishing championship on the Red River, scoring his first Bassmaster Classic victory by a margin more than 3 pounds over fellow pro Greg Vinson. With the victory, Lane, who totaled 51 pounds, 6 ounces over the three-day event, captured Classic victory.

Using a technique he has been known to utilize often, Lane regularly made runs to Pool 4 of the Red, which turned out to be the more productive area of the areas he visited throughout the tournament. Lane capitalized on ever bite and earned the victory along with the $500,000 top prize.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Chris Lane Wins 2012 Classic Title | The Ultimate Bass Fishing Resource Guide® LLC.

Future of pro fishing bright | The News Star

Jimmy Watson/Gannett Louisisnaa

A new ownership group of three businessmen is poised to move the Bass Anglers Sportsmen’s Society forward over the next few years while battling a slowly improving economy.

Jerry McKinnis, Don Logan and Jim Copeland salvaged BASS in 2010 from ESPN, which had owned the 500,000-member organization since 2001. That change has been popular with many of the anglers who will be in Shreveport and Bossier City this week competing in the 42nd Bassmaster Classic.

The competition will take place Friday through Sunday on the Red River out of the Red River South Marina with weigh-ins at the CenturyLink Center and an expo at the Shreveport Convention Center.

“As for the future, I think we are starting the uphill climb again,” said Elite angler Ott DeFoe. “In my opinion we are moving forward again. There are some very exciting things that are going on in the sport that are taking it in the right directions.”

BASS owners have spent the past year listening to the anglers, securing sponsors, moving their headquarters and divesting itself of corporate giant ESPN.

The first order of business is to broaden the base of sponsors and people outside the fishing world.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Future of pro fishing bright | The News Star | thenewsstar.com.

Mike Bolton: West Coast anglers joined professional bass fishing about 12 years ago – al.com

MIKE BOLTON

News staff writer

GUNTERSVILLE — Everywhere California’s Skeet Reese has gone in Alabama this past week, youngsters, women and men have begged for his autographs on hats, T-shirts and slips of paper.

On the water, weekend bass fishermen have shouted out his name and congratulated him on a job well done. Fellow pro fishermen have kidded with him, asked his opinion and swapped practical jokes.

That typically comes with the territory when you are the reigning Bassmaster Classic champ, but there was once a day when Reese found such acceptance unimaginable.

The invasion of Reese and the rest of the West Coast contingent into professional bass fishing a dozen years ago was about as welcome as a fish kill.

When BASS announced the creation of the Western Opens, many regulars on the pro circuit were outraged. Anglers fishing the Southern and Central Opens would have to fish against the best bass fishermen in the world to qualify for the Classic, they claimed, but those fishing in the Western Opens would be fishing against a bunch of nobodies and have an easy route to bass fishing’s biggest event.

Reese, in his bright yellow shoes and bright yellow boat, was the epitome of the gang that had no business being allowed to fish on level footing with the world’s best bass anglers, many pro anglers believed.

“It took a while to earn the respect of the anglers and the fans,” Reese said with a laugh. “At the first Bassmaster Classic that I fished in 1998, we had a pre-tournament briefing where all the fishermen were introduced. Whoever it was introducing all the anglers said `Now, we want to introduce the anglers from the West.’

“One of the pros – I’m not going to say who it was – stood up and said, `We don’t recognize any anglers from the West.’

“That’s the kind of reception we received at first. We got no respect.”  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Mike Bolton: West Coast anglers joined professional bass fishing about 12 years ago – al.com.

Skeet Reese wins BassMaster Classic- Statesman.Com

By Mike Leggett

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Monday, February 23, 2009

SHREVEPORT, La. — Call it the “Diversity Open.”

The BassMaster Classic — a tournament once dominated by southern good old boys — morphed into a two-man race between anglers from New Jersey and California on Sunday. The 25 anglers who qualified for the final day’s fishing represented 17 different states, something of a record for BASS events.

The West Coast eventually claimed victory on the Red River as Californian Skeet Reese bumped Mike Iaconelli from the leader’s chair at 6 p.m. Sunday to win fishing’s number one tournament and a $500,000 first-place prize.

Iaconelli, the 2003 Classic champion and a New Jersey native, slammed a limit of 5 big bass to weigh in 20 pounds, 3 ounces, for a total of 54 pounds, 2 ounces.

But Reese, who was second after day two, stayed with Iaconelli all day and walked to the scale with five fish weighing 16 pounds, 12 ounces. His 54-13 total beat Iaconelli by 11 ounces.

Reese, who lost the 2007 Classic by just 6 ounces, gained a measure of redemption on the Red River.

“Everything just fell into place,” said an emotional Reese. “I went back to my best hole today and I never left my little 200-yard stretch of water.” He said he fished a spinner bait and plastic, imitation crawfish, to reach the top spot.

Twenty-five anglers battled cold and high pressure on the final day and early catches were rare. But as the sun rose higher and began to heat the shallow, stump-filled flats where anglers were finding fish, the largemouths began to bite. Unofficial standings had multiple anglers on top during the day and things didn’t settle out until the top six anglers walked on the stage for the final weigh-down  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Skeet Reese wins BassMaster Classic.

Kim Bain-Moore has a great fish-out-of-water story – Los Angeles Times

She is making history as the first woman to compete in the Bassmaster Classic, but many of the male anglers she is fishing against aren’t happy about it.

By Steve Waters

February 20, 2009

Reporting from Shreveport, La. — Kim Bain-Moore is making history as the first woman to compete in the Bassmaster Classic, but many of the 50 male anglers she is fishing against aren’t happy about it.

They insist they have nothing personal against the 28-year-old Australian native; they just don’t think she deserves a shot at the $500,000 first prize and the endorsements that come with a Classic victory.

The Classic, today through Sunday on the Red River, has the top 37 anglers from the Bassmaster Elite Series, an 11-tournament circuit, plus qualifiers from other events.

Bain-Moore, who lives in Pelham, Ala., 30 miles south of Birmingham, qualified as the 2008 angler of the year from the five-tournament Women’s Bassmaster Tour. That policy was instituted last year by BASS, which is owned by ESPN. The cable network is televising the event.  Click Link Below for full story.

via Kim Bain-Moore has a great fish-out-of-water story – Los Angeles Times.